Okay, good news-bad news-good news. The good news is that it turns out that we have barely any homework this week, meaning I found time to write this chapter early. The bad news is that we don't have any homework because of standerdized testing this week. But the other good news is the completely irrelivant fact that I just got my braces off today!

Okay, so enjoy this early chapter.

"What?" Sam whispered, her breath taken away.

"He may not even have all of my powers, just a few, but…it all fits." The father's eyes widened as all of the pieces began to click together.

"But how?"

Danny paused for a moment. "Maybe he inherited a few of my powers and they could have just shown up a few months ago. It would sure explain why some of the ghosts think he could be a threat and he might have had to fight a little, so it would explain the ghost hunting skills that suddenly popped out of nowhere. It would also explain where all of his free time and concentration is going."

Sam drew in a sharp breath. "Why wouldn't he tell us?"

Danny shrugged. "Maybe he didn't want to get involved in the whole ghost-hunting thing. Maybe he didn't want publicity. Who knows?"

Sam thought for a minute. "Danny, why don't we keep this between us for now? Abby doesn't need to know and we should talk to him first. For all we know, we could be way off track." Yes, Sam doubted that, but she still wanted to keep an open mind.

"You're right. I just hope that he comes back soon."

"What is this place?" Chris asked as they entered the dark halls of the Guys in White building.

"It's the abandoned headquarters of an old ghost hunting team. Jake and I come here to practice sometimes." Matt answered, holding a flashlight out in front of him. "I think that maybe he went here. After what just happened, he would probably want to get away from the public."

Suddenly, a large rumble echoed throughout the halls accompanied by a scream of frustration.

"I think that's our confirmation." Chris agreed as the two started running down the hall.

They skidded to a stop right outside of a closed door and Matt threw it open. Smoke immediately poured out. The two teens rushed inside, trying to cover their mouths and eyes from the smoke. Matt had thrown down the flashlight.

"Jake!" Chris called, but then started coughing violently because of the smoke.

There was no response. Worried etched itself on the humans' faces. It took a little longer, but the smoke eventually cleared. Standing in the middle of the room was Shadow. He started swaying on his feet for a bit before falling to his hands and knees and changing back to Jake Fenton.

Matt and Chris gasped as they bolted for him, crouching down next to their half-ghost friend. Chris hastily put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jake, are you okay?" Her voice was fast and concerned.

"Define 'okay'." The boy gasped back.

Each of them grabbed an arm and helped him to his feet. They leaned him against a wall.

"Dude, what happened?" The techno-wiz questioned.

"I…I don't know." He answered. "It's all a blur. I just remember being angry and then…heat…power…ugh." He groaned as he fell back against the wall.

"C'mon, we have to get you home." Matt insisted, trying to help up his friend again.

Jake's muscles twitched and he pulled back in resistance. "No! I-I can't! I could hurt Abby again!"

"Jake, please? This is nothing to worry about. You got angry and lost control of your powers, but now you're fine. Besides, everyone's worried sick about you." The goth girl pleaded.

"Seriously, you just ran out of the school building and, well, you kind of created a big scene. It was definitely enough to attract attention." Matt agreed.

The half-ghost let his head drop. "Okay."

His friends held onto his arms in support as they exited the building.

By the time they had gotten to the front door, Matt and Chris no longer needed to hold Jake up. The moment they reached the entrance, it was flung open and Sam ran out, crushing her son in a hug. She continued to suffocate him for a few moments before pulling away at arm's length and looking him straight in the eyes.

"Honey, where on Earth were you?!"

The son looked down in guilt. "I…"

He didn't finish because, at that very second, Danny rushed out as well.



"Jake?! What happened?!"

The boy winced.

"Well, if you don't need us anymore, we'll just be going." Matt announced before all but running down the street with Chris in tow. Jake glared at them for a moment before turning back to his worried parents.

"Come on. Let's go inside so that we can talk." The mother suggested, ushering her only son in. She made him sit on the couch while her and her husband stood in front of the guilt-ridden boy. Sam bent down again so that she was at his eye level and forced him to look at her. "Jake, I need you to tell us what's wrong. You've never ditched school before and, according to the reports, it was quite a scene."

The younger half-ghost could feel himself shudder a little. "I honestly don't know." He replied, trying to keep his voice strong even though his fear poked through. He took a shaky breath. "I just remember being upset about the parent-teacher conference and then Tori and Chris arguing and…I don't know. I got angry."

Sam looked back at Danny, who nodded and stepped forward. He inhaled deeply, before turning his strong, icy blue gaze on his son.

"Son, we've been talking and…we realized some things that we should have caught earlier." Danny watched his son tense. "The slipping grades, constantly being late, the beaker incident a few months ago…" He sighed. "I'm going to get to the point. Jake, do you have ghost powers?"

"No." He lied, his tone flat.

The two parents glanced at each other.

"Then what is it? If it's causing all of this, we really need to know." Sam pleaded.

"Whatever it is, we'll understand." Danny assured.

Great, now Jake felt even worse.

"Guys, it's nothing serious or bad. I'm just…" A heavy sigh escaped his mouth. Maybe he could give them a little bit of the truth. Just enough to satisfy them. "I feel a little bit out of control right now, okay?"

Danny and Sam stood back up.

"Jake, why don't you wait in your room for a little bit." Sam instructed softly.

Her son complied without complaint and made his depressing way up the stairs and turned a corner, leaving the sight of his parents. The adults turned to each other.

"Danny, we have to do something." Sam insisted. "Something is seriously wrong with him. Maybe we could get Jazz to help him."

"It won't work." Danny answered. "There's something else, I can tell. He won't tell her anything. He's stubborn."

"I hate this." Sam admitted. "We're his parents! We should know what's happening with him, but we don't, and now he's shutting us out!"

"Sam, stop and think for a minute. We did the same thing when we were kids. Remember? We always shut out the rest of the world, refusing to let anyone - not even our own parents or anyone else we deeply loved and trusted - in."



"So, what? You're saying we should just go on like nothing's wrong?" She argued.

"No," Danny replied "I'm saying that we can't push and we have to wait until he's ready to trust us."

Sam nodded and gave in, realizing that that was really the only thing they could do, no matter how much she disliked it.

Unknown to them, Jake had been hiding against the wall, listening to their every word. His shoulders slumped as he comprehended how much pain he was causing his parents.

"I'm hurting them."

I hope that wasn't as choppy as the last chapter. I tried really hard to make it good. :D